The Boycott Against Obama's Bear-Hugging Buddy Is Failing Miserably

When Scott Van Duzer got caught up in the moment during President Obama's Sunday visit to his pizza shop in Fort Pierce, Florida, little did he know how quickly the Yelp army would mobilize. On Saturday, Big Apple Pizza had just two reviews, but at the time of this posting, that number had grown to 1,059. Of course, Obama being a Democrat and this being an election year, not all of them are five stars.

"I will not eat from traitor's hands and I'll never take food from man who DIDN'T BUILD his business," reads a one-star review from a Yelper in Las Vegas. "Went there during my summer vacation. It was nasty. Not surprised the owner is an Obama hack!!" reads another, also with one star. There are few more, too. Apparently, some anti-Obama trolls were trying to mount an assault against Big Apple Pizza on Yelp, launching their one-star reviews like Sidewinder missiles into hull of Van Duzer's reputation. Too bad they were outnumbered. Like, really outnumbered.

The would be Yelp war between Obama lovers and detractors on Yelp seems to have turned into more of a massacre. For every one-star review bashing Big Apple Pizza on Yelp, there were about 60 five-star reviews singing its praises. (We counted.) In reality, the ratio is a little bit different since about 130 reviews were taken down -- most of them one-star reviews -- for violating Yelp's terms of service. It's still a pretty stark split, though, you have to admit. Not only does Van Duzer's pizza place have the best rating in Fort Pierce. He's got the highest rated restaurant in the entire state of Florida. (Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa appears to be a distant second.)

This is an all-too-familiar tale. A troll taunts the Internet with a silly ruse, but the Internet is much bigger and more powerful than said troll, so said ruse backfires. Then again, maybe we haven't seen the last of the anti-Big Apple Pizza army. The restaurant's Facebook page seems to be relatively unscathed.